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A woman in Ogun State has died following a violent domestic fight with her husband, Celestial Church of Christ evangelist Abidemi Odukoya, in the Akinode/Ibogun community, with Odukoya also dying hours later after he was hit by a vehicle while attempting to leave the area.
The incident happened in the early hours of Monday, 25 August, according to a report by punch. The couple were at their residence when a disagreement escalated into a physical confrontation that left the her unconscious and seriously injured.
The first indication that something was wrong came from the couple’s son, who raised the alarm. Adejimi Olawumi, a former Chairman of the Community Development Association (CDA), said he heard neighbours shouting “thief, thief” and went outside to investigate. He said he encountered the couple’s son, who told him that something had happened between his parents. When Olawumi and other residents entered the house, they found the woman lying in a pool of blood.
“Immediately, we got inside the house and saw the wife in a pool of blood”
The situation was made more difficult by the lack of a vehicle available to take her to hospital at the time. According to Olawumi, the couple’s son said he had been in another room and did not see what happened between his parents. As residents tried to organise help, they realised that Odukoya was no longer at the residence. Members of the CDA began searching for him and were later informed that he had been struck by a vehicle in the Ifo area. While earlier reports said he had been struck by a vehicle, accounts from people who witnessed the incident say he deliberately moved into the path of a passing Dangote truck at about 6am. The circumstances of his death have not been officially established, and the police have said the entire incident remains under investigation. Olawumi said the police took Odukoya to a hospital, where the CDA members went to confirm his identity.
“Later, we heard that Mr Abidemi had been hit by a car in Ifo. The police took him to the hospital, and we confirmed that he was the one”
The deaths have also brought attention to the couple’s history of domestic conflict. Odukoya’s younger sister said she had previously heard about repeated fights between the couple. She recalled an incident around April when the couple visited her following another altercation. According to her the matter was eventually taken to a police station, where it was settled.
“They had been fighting for a very long time, and people helped them settle it. And now we just heard that the husband and wife are dead”
Her account worth noting because it indicates that the violence in the home was not an isolated disagreement and it also raises concerns about what support was available to the woman when previous incidents occurred and whether the intervention at the time was enough to keep her safe. Olawumi similarly said residents knew the couple sometimes fought and would eventually reconcile.
This history is difficult to ignore, because the violence was known to people around the couple and had previously ended up at a police station because of it. Yet like so many cases of violence between husbands and wives, it appears to have been treated as something that could be settled within the family and then moved past. Even with the language of reporting it as “marital disagreement” is extremely dangerous and dismissive. A woman being repeatedly subjected to violence by her husband does not become less serious because relatives intervene, the couple reconciles or everyone decides that they should simply be more patient with each other. Violence does not stop being violence because it happens inside a marriage.
If the investigation establishes that her husband’s violence caused her death, this is another case that belongs in the growing list of femicides in Nigeria. The fact that the violence was known does not make the outcome it makes the failure to take that violence seriously even harder to dismiss.
The Ogun State Police Command has confirmed that it is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths. The investigation must establish exactly what happened to the woman, but it should also go in line with the history of violence that led to her death
The investigation by the Ogun State Police Command is expected to establish exactly what happened inside the home, how the woman sustained the injuries that led to her death and the circumstances surrounding Odukoya’s subsequent death on the road. The woman was buried on the day of the incident, while Odukoya’s remains were buried on Wednesday, 2 September.
